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Sports Medicine

At Nemours, our team of experts understand how pediatric sports medicine injuries can impact your child — and how each child's individual growth should be taken into consideration with their personalized rehabilitation program. So we do whatever it takes to diagnose and rehabilitate sports medicine injuries in children and get them back in the game — safely.

The pediatric sports medicine team at Nemours Children’s Hospital includes experts in orthopedics and orthopedic surgery who work with neurosurgeons, physical therapists and other pediatric specialists to manage your child’s recovery from a sports-related injury, including sprains, torn ligaments, broken bones and concussions.

In addition to developing a customized plan for physical recovery when an injury occurs, the Nemours pediatric sports medicine team can also optimize your child’s sport selection, safety and performance to help prevent injuries before they happen.

For your convenience, many of the same specialists go to Nemours Children’s Specialty Care locations in Lake Mary and Melbourne to provide excellent care that’s closer to home.

Expert Pediatric Sports Medicine Care

Sports medicine is a distinct specialty because athletes have different demands and expectations of their bodies. But young athletes aren’t simply smaller versions of adults. Differences like open growth plates can cause unique injuries and conditions that don’t occur in adults. It’s also why your child may need the knowledge and experience of a specialist to make the quickest possible recovery while avoiding further injury.

At Nemours, we have special expertise in all types of sports injuries. Our pediatric sports medicine specialists are also sports safety advocates, providing area coaches and athletic directors with education and information about injury prevention and care on the sidelines.

Our Team Approach to Pediatric Sports Medicine in Central Florida

At Nemours Children’s Hospital, you’ll find doctors, nurses and staff who are qualified, experienced and share a strong commitment to your child’s long-term health and well-being. As a team, our pediatric sports medicine experts work closely with other specialists to ensure your child’s recovery from a sports injury is smooth and successful.

Sports injuries are different from accidents because your child will likely have a strong desire to resume the activity that caused the injury. Recovering full performance in a sport requires specialized management and careful monitoring to avoid re-injury.

There are many different types of injuries related to team and individual sports, plus those associated with physically demanding performing arts such as dance or ballet. We treat all types of sports injuries, including:

combination injuries (when a sudden injury like an ankle sprain leads to limping or other alteration in an athlete’s motion that causes chronic or repeat injury)

acute injuries (such as concussion and heat illness that may lead to chronic problems and higher susceptibility to repeat injury)

Diagnosing and Evaluating Sports Injuries

Evaluating Sports Injuries in Children and Adolescents

An evaluation of a sports-related injury begins with an assessment by a pediatric sports medicine specialist. The doctor will perform an examination, and then create an evaluation and treatment plan with a projected timeline for recovery. Members of the Nemours sports medicine team will conduct measurements required to follow your child’s progress.

When a young athlete is affected by underlying medical issues such as asthma or epilepsy, additional evaluation or treatment is necessary. Nemours physicians in all major specialties are conveniently available to coordinate treatment with the sports medicine team.

If Your Child Needs Additional Diagnostic Tests

Medical work-ups for sports injuries are designed to identify other factors that may be contributing to your child’s symptoms. In addition to a medical history and physical examination our team may order:

Since 1940, Nemours has been setting the standards for procedures in pediatric orthopedics for children who were either born with bone, joint, muscular and nerve conditions, or who develop these conditions because of disease or injury. Our orthopedic expertise is recognized throughout the world, and whatever pediatric orthopedics condition or injury your child has, know that we offer comprehensive, compassionate care — and treat every child as we would our own.

Our Comprehensive Concussion Center team (created and led by an expert neurosurgeon) works with young athletes to develop a personalized treatment program based on your child’s concussion symptoms and changes in function. With most concussions in children, kids often just need lots of rest from physical and mental activities and a careful return to normal activities (with clearance from a doctor). But this process takes time and it’s different for every athlete.

A Hospital Designed by Families, for Families

At Nemours Children’s Hospital, family-centered care is at the heart of everything we do. In fact, families helped shape the unique amenities and convenient services that make our hospital like no other in the region.

If Your Child Needs to Stay Overnight in Our Hospital

You’ll feel right at home in one of our private patient rooms designed with input from families who know what it’s like to have a child in the hospital.

Our large, comfortable, single-patient rooms have sleeping accommodations for two parents, a private bathroom, wireless Internet access, connections for DVD players and game systems, and two flat-screen TVs.

Other in-room features include:

full floor-to-ceiling windows for natural light

refrigerator for family meals and snacks

wardrobe storage for personal items and a hotel-style safe

GetWellNetwork interactive television (uniquely based on your child’s age, medical condition and more) and allows your child to watch TV, surf the Web, check e-mail, play music and games, and learn about your Nemours health care team.

Our “hospital within a garden” setting features many places for you and your family to go for fresh air and relaxation, including a one-acre interactive sensory discovery garden or one of our rooftop gardens on the second and fourth floors.

If your child needs medical imaging, we offer some of the area’s most advanced pediatric radiology services here on campus at Nemours
Children’s Hospital.

Our unique services include:

interventional radiology: Our team of experts uses image guidance to diagnose and treat diseases and tumors throughout the body. Certain conditions that previously required open surgery can now be treated by Nemours pediatric interventional radiologists. We are very fortunate to have the only dual-trained pediatric diagnostic and interventional radiologist in the state.

Central Florida’s only 256-slice Brilliance iCT Scanner: We are one of only a handful of children’s hospitals in the country to have this latest generation CAT (or CT) scanner that scans faster than most machines and produces excellent images in a much shorter time with much less radiation exposure for the child.

Our team of board-certified pediatric radiologists and pediatric radiologic technologists are experts in the safe medical imaging of children of every age, even newborns.

We have also pledged our commitment to the “Image Gently” campaign of the Alliance for Radiation Safety in Pediatric Imaging, which is increasing awareness of the opportunities to promote radiation protection in the imaging of children.

At Nemours, we want to hear your concerns and share with you everything we can about your child's condition and treatment. If English is not your first language, we'll make sure you understand what to expect — in your language.

If your child has a complex or chronic condition we encourage you to take advantage of KidsTRACK, a unique service of Nemours Children’s Hospital. Located on the first floor of our hospital, KidsTRACK is designed to help families by providing expert assistance and information on all aspects of your child’s care, even before you leave our hospital or clinic.

A KidsTRACK care coordinator is available during every step of diagnosis, treatment and healing — helping your family make a smooth transition from Nemours Children's Hospital to home. Your coordinator works alongside the nursing/case managers in our subspecialty areas and acts as a single point of contact connecting you to medical and community resources.

Simply ask your physician for a referral to KidsTRACK
or call (407) 650-7715.